drawing the line

Drawing The Line (2010), c-type colour hand print, 29 x 14 cm (1/5)

In previous works I had been using fundamental symbols of Korea, elements of landscape and culture: such as sticks, rocks and roof tiles

During a walk in my local park in London I picked up an 8m long stick. I protected it from the weather and laid it across my yard.

The stick was in fact a small tree, up-rooted and destroyed by an act of violence. It looked strange, like a gangly root, but also brand-new, and this uncanny thing became a kind of daily meditation for me to look at, its wayward shape started to seem reminiscent of the 38th Parallel, the demarcation line between the two Korea’s.

From a vertical tree, pulled into a distinctive shape by natural forces it becomes a horizontal division.